Innocent Steps
by Pheria
Summary: It all begins with one dance.   Hotaru x Misaki-sensei! :D
1. Chapter 1: The Masquerade

**Yay, another Gakuen Alice fanfiction after a very long time.**

**Of course I'm making a fic about my fave pairing, Hotaru and Misaki-sensei. I know their age gap is a bit... yeah you know. But, here is a fact, my friend's mom and dad even got a greater age gap than that, which makes me believe that the gap is okay. **

**In the anime Hotaru was 10 and Misaki-sensei 27, so in this fic, Hotaru will be 17 and Misaki-sensei 34. Not bad right?**

**Just read it first guys! :D**

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"Misaki-sensei got number 35!" a boy said. "Who got the other 35?"

No one answered.

"It seemed your partner isn't here yet, sensei. Please wait till she comes," the boy said again to Misaki-sensei and smiled. Not long after that he went to his own partner.

Misaki wore masked in his face, since it was a masquerade. Though he hid his face behind the mask, it seemed that everybody realized who he was. Misaki sat on the empty seat not far from where he was standing earlier, behind him was a girl long raven hair. He looked at her. She looked beautiful, though part of her face was covered by the mask, it could not cover her lovely face, though she seemed to be bored.

Misaki sighed, he was bored too. He was not the type to go partying until late and drunk. Maybe this girl was like that too.

"Why aren't you go dancing with your partner?" Misaki broke the silence.

"I just don't want to," she replied and asked, "Misaki-sensei, right?"

"Yeah, how come that everyone finds out it's me," he complained. "It's a masquerade, you suppose to think of me as a stranger."

"It's easy to know it's you, since you're taller than any boys and you are our teacher, different aura, I guess," she said and chuckled. Her sweet voice ringing in his ears. "Where's your partner, sensei? I'm sure that she'll be happy to dance with you."

"She hasn't come yet, I think," he replied. "When the boys look for her, she doesn't show herself."

"I see," she nodded.

"Hey, right now, your partner is maybe waiting for you," he said. "Why don't you look for him?"

"I told you, I'm not in the mood to dance right now," she said coldly.

"I pity your partner, he must be alone and depressed right now," he told her.

"Alright, I'll dance with him," she said, from her voice he knew that she was pissed. "I'm going."

The girl rose from her seat and went to look for her partner. Misaki smiled. Well, he was doing a good deed, at least that was what he thought. Children were supposed to be enjoying party like this one, right?

Misaki was still sitting there, waiting for his partner if she ever came to him. He hoped that she wouldn't come because he hated dancing, even when he was still a student in the academy, he hated dancing.

Then, suddenly the girl who was talking to him earlier came to him, her pace was hasty. He looked around him to find any boys she was heading to. But no one sat near him.

_'Why does she head towards me? Finished dancing already?" he thought._

She was standing in front of him, looking him deeply in his eyes. "You're my partner, sensei?"

"Huh?" he asked her. "What?"

"Your number, please?" she asked.

"35," he answered. "Is that yours, too?"

She showed him her number and nodded.

"So, I was talking to my own partner then," he said and chuckled. "Why don't you take a seat? You don't want to dance, right?"

She sat beside him. "Well, lucky me, you're my partner. Both of us hated this."

"So cold of you," he commented. "I don't hate this kind of party. I just hate dancing."

"I hate crowds," she said in another cold tone.

Misaki looked at her in surprise and smiled. "I'm going to change it, it's not good for kids to hate crowds."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Let's dance," he stood up and grabbed her hands, dragging her in the middle of the crowds and they began waltzing on the dance floor.

She didn't want to dance, she tried to stomp on his feet, but failed to do that. Then, she gave in and finally danced with him. She was good in dancing, which made him wondered why she hated it. He wasn't that good in dancing years ago, but he could do it quite well after so many times attending some balls in the academy.

"Why do you hate dancing?" he asked. "You're great in doing it, you know."

"I just hate it. Why do you hate it?" she asked him back.

"I can't dance," he answered. "But, lately I can do that quite well. You know how many balls that academy has just in a year."

"Just one song, okay?" she asked him.

He nodded and smiled. Then, they danced until the song was finished.

* * *

The song stopped playing and she was clinging to him with her head on his chest. The crowds around them were clapping their hands and cheering, teasing both of them.

"Who's that girl?" they whispered to each other. "She is lucky to be sensei's partner."

Then, she realized that her heart was beating rapidly and pushed him away from her. She ran through the people who were circling them, she wanted to go somewhere far from the crowds. He followed her as quick as he could. He hoped that he could catch up with her and maybe he could ask why she hated the crowds so much. She wasn't so far from him, maybe she could not run really fast wearing that gown and the high heels.

Misaki grabbed her arms.

"Let me go," she said coldly, pulling her arms from him. But, he grabbed her tightly that she could not pull it from him.

"Why do you hate the crowds so much?" he asked her.

"I just hate them," she replied. "Now, let me go, sensei!"

He let her pull her arm and looked at her deeply in her eyes. Tears? he thought.

He was watching her as she ran away from him, she fell down, tripping on a stone. Misaki headed towards her in a hurry.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "Let me help you."

The girl tried to stand up with the help of his hand. "Ouch!" she exclaimed.

He sighed. "There's no choice," he muttered as he lifted her in his arms.

"Put me down!" she exclaimed. "Put me down, put me down!"

"Hey don't hit me," he glared at her. "You can't even walk."

She didn't say anything.

"I'll take you to the girls' dorm," he told her.

"No need," she said. "I don't have a room there."

He was stunned as he stopped his pace. "What do you mean?"

"You need not to be surprised. I assure you I'm a student here if you think I'm an intruder. I live not far from the Mr. Bear's house," she said. "Do you think you can carry me all the way there?"

"Yeah, I think I can. You're Imai Hotaru, right?" he asked. "The only student who is granted a private workshop. That's you, right?"

She smiled. "Well done, that's right."

"I didn't expect that it's you. You change a lot. Your behavior is a bit strange," he told her, he remembered the tears in her eyes earlier. Strange, Hotaru Imai was not a crybaby, at least that was what he knew.

"Just carry me there, will you?" she asked in a cold tone. "You said you want to take me home."

Misaki turned around and headed towards the forest. "Alright, this attitude of yours do not change," he muttered. "Commanding your teacher, like you're the boss."

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**TBC**

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**Well, I guess this is the first chapter. I know about Hotaru's strange behavior, I'll tell about it later in chapter 2. I really hope that you like the start, guys.**

**Thanks for reading and please review if you have some times to do that. :D**

**See you on the next chapter!**

**~Pheria~**


	2. Chapter 2 : Her Story

**Second Chapter!**

**Hi, guys! I'm really happy that this fic got a quite good respond... Thanks for adding this fic into your fave list and/or alert list!**

**Okay, let's begin the second chapter right now!**

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The moon was shining above them on their way to Hotaru's private workshop. They had passed Mr. Bear's house and Misaki felt relief that they didn't have to face him. Hotaru looked sleepy, but sometimes she groaned because of the pain on her knee. When she cried out, he would stop walking, waiting for her to say that it was okay to move on.

Misaki never went to the workshop before this. He never had any important business with Hotaru and Hotaru hardly made any riot in the technology class-she even rarely attend the class. Hotaru was a special student, she was always treated specially by those around her, including him. It was because she was a genius and sometimes her presence made others felt intimidated, but actually she was an introvert girl. Knowing her since she was a child, Misaki felt that he was quite close to her as a teacher. Sometimes, Hotaru even made him do some labors, though she knew that he was her teacher. He felt that she was feeling close enough to him that she could be bossy in front of him, same goes for Narumi. Hotaru often bossed him around, too.

Misaki arrived in front of the workshop. When he stood in front of the huge building, he was stunned. The gate was tall and the building inside was like a manor in the European country; it didn't look like a workshop at all. It was so different from his greenhouse. His greenhouse was not that big and it was not only him who used it, the students who had the similar abilities to him often came there too.

"Misaki-sensei, help me stand up," Hotaru said. Misaki put her down and helped her to walk to the front gate. There are a few guards wearing black suits like secret agents, which made Misaki frowned and wondered why there were guards like that only to guard one's workshop.

Hotaru tried to walk, every step brought her such pain that she would have fallen if Misaki had not been there. She sighed when she was in front of one of the guards.

"We cannot let him in, Hotaru-sama," he said coldly.

"He's the one that I've been looking for," Hotaru answered. "I won't be able to finish the project that your master gave me if I don't ask for his help. Let him in."

She looked at the guard in the eye. Her eyes were cold and a glimpse of anger was in there. Misaki looked at the guard and then turned to Hotaru. After the battle of the eyes, the guard let out a sigh.

"Fine, he can come in," the guard said. "Do you need my help, Hotaru-sama? You're injured."

"No," Hotaru answered and turned to Misaki. "He could help me."

"Sensei, can you carry me again?" she asked as she looked deeply into her eyes. How could Misaki win a battle against her eyes? He immediately gave up and once again had to carry her. He went upstairs and had a hard time to open her room, which she finally opened it for him later.

The room was clean and there were so many robots in there. Misaki looked around him as he finally put Hotaru on her bed. He felt it a bit weird, because it was a girl's room, he, at least in his mind, hoped to find some girly stuff, like teddy bear and the other dolls, but he only found robots, some beakers, and few other things which were not really girly.

"Sensei, could you hand me my first-aid box? It is there," she said and pointed her index finger to her cupboard near the window. And she added, "After you find it, please don't look at me, until I say it's okay to look here."

Misaki went to search for the first-aid box, while Hotaru tried to take remove her stocking.

"Ouch!" she cried out when the stocking accidentally brushed against her wound.

"Are you okay?" he immediately turned to her to see whether she was alright or not. He accidentally saw her panties and blushed.

"I told you, don't look back, idiot!" she snapped. "Turn your head to the window, now!"

He did as he was told. Misaki didn't expect that he would see it. It was her fault, he thought. If she just told him she was going to remove it, he would not look.

"It's okay now," she said and from her voice, he knew that she was still thinking about the earlier.

"Hey, don't worry about it," he said as he tried to calm himself down. "For me, you're still a kid. I'm not interested at all."

"You don't understand a girl's mind at all," she responded quickly. "Hand me the box."

He gave it to her. She opened the box and began to treat herself.

"Now, looks like it's time to leave," he said.

"No, don't!" she exclaimed. "I told the guard that you're my helper. Stay a bit longer so they won't be curious."

Hotaru was going to apply the ointment, she took a deep breath and when she was going to touch her wound, she backed up. She tried many times, but hadn't been able to apply it at all.

Misaki sighed as he saw Hotaru. "Let me do it for you."

Hotaru looked him in the eye and then turned her head from him. "Fine. Help me."

"You silly, you suppose to clean it first," he said.

"Why don't tell me earlier?"

"I thought you were going to clean it," he said. "And when I take a closer look at this cotton bud, it's not alcohol here, but the ointment."

"Fine, fine. Now, will you take care of it?" she asked. He kneeled next to her bed. He took a new cotton bud and dipped it into the alcohol then gently brushed it against her wound. She cried out and her foot which was treated by him started kicking him.

"That's why I hate to get hurt!" she said in annoyance.

"Don't kick!" he scolded her. And grabbed her calf. He tried to clean the open wound once again and she grasped her blanket tightly. After he finished cleaning it, she sighed in relief, but let out some noise again when he applied the ointment.

"Done!" he said and smiled at her. She looked tired after many attempts in kicking and pulling her leg from his grip.

"Thank you, sensei," she said after she regained her composure.

"You know, you exaggerate it," he told her. "Making so much noise and kicking me. I wonder if your true motive is actually kicking my face."

"I rarely got wounds, that's why this one feels really hurt," she made her reason.

"Now, can I go?"

"Not yet," she said. "It's been such a long time since the last time I got a guest."

Misaki took a seat next to her. She began to show her sad expression which had shown itself for a few seconds in the masquerade. He readied himself to listen to her And she began.

"This place is my cage. At first, I was really happy to live in here. I could invent as many as I can. I don't have to go to school for some lessons that I had already understood. But, not long after I lived here. It became so boring. The guard, when I first moved here, let me go in and out this place as I wished, but then, they became really strict. I could not leave this place easily, though the place I'm going to is only the school. They only let me go to school once or twice in a month. My friends, of course, started to look for me..." Hotaru took a deep breath as tears started to dwell in her eyes. "But, those guards, they told my friends that I didn't want to see them and they asked my friends not to see me again... I tried to go to my friends as they were being chased away, but the guards held me up, when I screamed so that my friends could hear me, they put me to sleep. After that, my life here is lonely. The guards are just puppets to their master. They never want to be my friend. The only one who help me go through this is the principal.

"I have this place since I was in the last semester of junior high school. That time, I was still able to do as I wished, so it was not a hard time. When I was in the first semester of senior high school, when I started to feel lonely, the high school principal came to see me. He told me about the special treatment that was given to me. He wanted to help me to get out of this horrible place. We have tried three times, but when the guards found out I was gone, they searched for me. They would lock me up in this room afterwards.

"Not long after my third attempt to run away. Their master came to me. He said that my family's life is in my hand. If I try to get out of this place or not making any inventions, he will kill my family," she sobbed and he comforted her with a hug.

He tried to comfort her and let her cry on his chest. Her cry got louder as she tried to stop crying and regain her self composure. But the tears wouldn't stop falling and her cry couldn't be stopped either. Misaki patted her back gently, his eyes looking at her with a sad expression. He pitied her. Being alone in this place and threatened.

When she stopped crying and wiped her tears with her hands, she looked down, not wanting him to see her face. Then, he asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

"I thought you are similar to me," she answered, her voice was still husky. "I just feel that I can trust in you."

"Not Sakura?" he asked.

"No, not any more," she replied. "I wanted to tell her, but all my friends... They avoid me."

He looked surprised for a few seconds but then he nodded.

"Why don't you tell the principal?" he asked. "He has more power to get you out of here."

"You really don't want to get involved in this matter, do you?" she said. "I thought you'll be willing to help me."

"No, not that," he answered quickly and began to feel panic. "I'm your teacher, of course I'll help you if I can. But, this is not an easy matter. The master you're speaking of earlier, he seemed to have so much power. I don't have anything, except my alice."

She sighed. "The principal said he could not help me anymore. It's about the safety of my family and it's all up to me," she said.

Misaki stood up. "I'll find a way to help you," he said as he turned his eyes to the window. "But, I won't make it a promise, because even the principal cannot do that."

"Sensei! Really?" she exclaimed.

He nodded. "It's not a promise, don't be too excited," he told her. "Can I go now?"

"Yes," she answered as she gave him a very sweet smile which made him stunned. Hotaru was beautiful and even more beautiful when she smiled. Misaki shook his head slowly.

"Oh yeah, I've got one question," he said and looked at her for a sign to continue. She nodded. "Why did you run when we finished our dance?"

Hotaru played with her fingers as she tried to explain. "Um-m, that's because..."

"Because?" he asked curiously.

"It's been such a long time," she said slowly. "Since I hug someone else..."

He felt his cheeks getting hot, but he smiled at her as he walked towards the door. "I see..."

Misaki opened the door and looked at Hotaru, "Goodbye...", he said.

"Will you come again tomorrow?" she asked, her eyes shining with hope. Misaki put his finger under his chin, rubbing it as he thought about the next day. Then, he smiled and nodded. Hotaru smiled widely and he saw gratefulness in her expression. Misaki went out and closed the door, leaving her alone in the room. He sighed as he went downstairs, thinking about what happened earlier between him and one of his student. He never expected that being special was so... horrible.

He shook his head as he passed the guards and looked back at the window on the second floor, hoping that he would be able to help the poor girl.

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**Yay!**

**This chapter is so long. It took me two hours to finish it. :P**

**About the master, I would explain about it later as the story got clearer and clearer... **

**Thanks for reading, if you have any comments, I would appreciate it very much!**

**Wait for the next chapter!**

**Bye~!**

**~Pheria~**


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